Participatory local strategic planning : experience sharing based on a Portuguese case study

(1)

Eduarda Fernandes Eduarda Fernandes Eduarda Fernandes Eduarda Fernandes Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão, Centro de Investigação em Gestão para a Sustentabilidade,

Instituto Politécnico de Leiria Ana

Ana Ana

Ana SargentoSargentoSargentoSargento Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão, Centro de Investigação em Gestão para a Sustentabilidade,

Instituto Politécnico de Leiria Ana Sofia Lopes Ana Sofia Lopes Ana Sofia Lopes Ana Sofia Lopes Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão, Centro de Investigação em Gestão para a Sustentabilidade,

Instituto Politécnico de Leiria

World Renaissance: Changing roles for people and places

55

th

_{ERSA Congress}

(2)

Motivation and research purposes

Participatory local governance models

The case of Ansião

• The group

• The role of the external team

• Characterization of participatory format used

• Practices applied for stakeholders’ engagement

• Preliminary evaluation results

(3)

Current national and international context

national and international context

national and international context has triggered a fast

dissemination of participatory governance initiatives

• The new wave of structural funds that has been prepared to be allocated

to regions and municipalities has created a momentum for local

government actors to consider new and more effective mechanisms of

local governance, especially in what concerns to local strategic planning

for the period 2014-2020

• In fact, stakeholders’ engagement in planning is a mandatory

requirement in order to apply to the majority of funds

The authors of this research have been invited to participate as facilitators participate as facilitators participate as facilitators of the work participate as facilitators being developed since June 2014, by a group of local stakeholders of Ansião, called “Agenda Ansião 2020”. This board was created to build, in a participatory way, the county’s Strategic Plan for 2014Strategic Plan for 2014Strategic Plan for 2014Strategic Plan for 2014---2020-202020202020

(4)

This research

has two main aims

two main aims

To provide some insights on the

experience that is being carried

out in this county, highlighting

some specific methods that have

been put in practice to ensure

stakeholders’ engagement;

To make a preliminary evaluation

of the methods used, envisioned

to support future improvements,

also in similar initiatives being

applied by others

(5)

By participatory local governance

participatory local governance

participatory local governance we mean any mechanism (more or

less formal) that promotes the involvement of individual citizens and /

or civic organizations (representative of the key local stakeholders) in

the public policy decision-making process

(Andersson & Van Laerhoven, 2007)

PG mechanisms can be applied at different phases of the policy

cycle

•Participatory planning and implementation

•Participatory monitoring

(6)

Benefits

(Ackerman, 2004; Ansell & Gash, 2007; Landry & Angeles, 2011; Callanan, 2005)

•Increasing local government responsiveness and accountability

•Agency problem can be partially solved by decreasing information asymmetry: it improves both policy makers’ information about citizens’ preferences and citizens’ knowledge about government actors’ decisions and actions

•Giving voice to citizens in between elections

•Acknowledging citizens’ expertise on different local matters

•Creating a greater sense of compromise and engagement on citizens

Risks

(Landry & Angeles, 2011; Bland, 2011)

•Prolonged decision-making process •Overstated stakeholders’ expectations •Danger of privileging some specific

groups of civil society - with better means, better capacity or privileged

information, making the supposedly open process to become a channel for uneven influence over local policy decisions

•Danger of becoming merely a tool for increasing promoter’s popularity

(7)

Agenda Ansião 2020

• 27 members from different areas that have in common the deep

knowledge of the problems of the county, as well as a significant

experience and an important role in civic participation

Public administration

Business association and firms

Producer associations (primary sector)

Education

Health

Employment

Culture and sport

Social institutions

(8)

Additionally, it is also a challenge to build consensus, departing from the diverse opinions, into a unique view for the Ansião development strategy

In this sense, our main contribution is to provide a framework designed to encourage and manage the participation of all members, ensuring equitable influence in the

process, promoting the sharing of knowledge and the construction of new ideas. In spite of the high level of experience in the field, this stakeholders’ group lacked the

technical expertise to the strategy development and to coordinate the decision-making process

(9)

6 work sessions, from June 2014 until October 2015 (final report)

Average duration of workshops: 2 hours

Frequency of meetings: quarterly

Number of participants:

0 5 10 15 20 25 First session Second session Third session Fourth session Fifth session 25 21 14 20 ₁₉

(10)

1. Diagnostic

• presentation of quantitative indicators and receiving participants’ concerns

2. Construction of the vision for the county (and strategic goals)

• group dynamics

3. Identification of the specific goals and main challenges

• problem tree analysis

4. Identification of activities to achieve the specific goals

• rotating idea building

5. Indicators, targets and promoters for the proposed activities

(11)

Finally, the 3 groups were gathered in the same room and the 3 visions

shared. Participants were given the opportunity to comment each other’s

Vision / Strategic goals

3 proposals were selected through voting; posterior discussion, facilitated by

IPL team member, allowed building consensus about the vision for the

county.

Written individual contributions were asked (for vision and two strategic

goals) and then posted in the wall for visualisation by all members

Participants were divided in 3 thematic groups (each with seven, on average),

according to the sector/ areas they represented and stated concerns

(session 1);

(12)

(13)

Problem-Tree-Analysis (PTA), to identify main causes and consequences

Stakeholders engagement in problems identification

(complementary to quantitative diagnostic) Establishment of cause-effects relationships

Debate to choose 2 or 3 critical problems

Brainstorming to identification of the problems / challenges most important for strategic vision’s achievement

(14)

Effects

Causes

Problem

Goal

Activities

(15)

The main advantage was allowing for all group members to contribute and validate each others’ ideas

Afterwards, each worksheet was passed on to the remaining groups, in order to be commented

Firstly, each group received one of the nine worksheets with the specific goal, so that a set of activities could be suggested

Participants were asked to think about the possible activities to achieve the specific goals identified in the previous session using a methodology of “r“r“r“rotatingotatingotatingotating” ideas ” ideas ” ideas ” ideas

building building building building

(16)

The group was always conducted by one or more IPL team member, that started giving a brief explanation of the goal and main concepts involved, in order to surpass one of the main difficulties: participants’ misunderstanding of concepts involved

The division in smaller groups (in some sessions) allowed for higher engagement of all elements of the group and to overcome the difficulty in reaching consensus

In between sessions, all contributions were analysed, summarized and organized by IPL team

A summary report of each session was produced and sent to the initiative promoter to be forwarded to all the group members

(17)

Q

u

e

s

ti

o

n

a

ir

e

s

Q

u

e

s

ti

o

n

a

ir

e

s

Q

u

e

s

ti

o

n

a

ir

e

s

Q

u

e

s

ti

o

n

a

ir

e

s

Total of 26 questions

Using a 5 points Likert scale (agreement with statements)

3 dimensions

Group characterization

Group operation

(18)

There were no “1” cases

The average given to each question was always higher than 3.5

Consensual answers (low standard deviation)

Those who participated in a higher number of sessions also gave a higher

value concerning the “Results” dimension and are also those who state having

a higher propensity for public engagement

(19)

Most positive aspects (average>4; standard deviation below its average

value)

• Group characterization

Group characterization

• Group composition (relationship with the remaining members,

relevant skills of the other for civic participation, group

representativeness); 3 questions; average 4,30

• Stated motivation: “My participation in the group was mainly driven

by the contribution I can give to the development of Ansião” =

average 4,22

• Self evaluation of skills: “Experience in previous civic intervention

has been important for my contribution in the group” = average

4,11

(20)

Most positive aspects (average>4; standard deviation below its average value)

• Group operationGroup operationGroup operationGroup operation

• External facilitator team: “The fact of the sessions monitoring being

conducted by an external and independent team was positive” = average 4,39

• Methods: “The methods used allow for all group members participation” = average 4,22

• Effort required: “The work that was asked me in each session was appropriate to the aims” = average 4,11

• ResultsResultsResultsResults

• Replicability of this practice (availability to participate again; practice to be adopted in other municipalities): 2 questions; average 4,17